Feeder for envelope stuffing machines



March 25, 1952 A. VAN VEEN FEEDER FOR ENVELOPE STUFFING MACHINES Filed May 31, 1946 of different sizes.

Patented Mar. 25, 1952 FEEDER FOR ENVELOPE STUFFING- MACHINES iantmrvanveen, Cantonflen'ten Conn. AppiicationMay 31, 1946, SeriatNo. 673,409 12 Claims. (Cl, 211- 9) This invention relates to envelope stufiingmachines and more particularly to a mechanism for automatically picking sheets from hoppers and depositing them in such machines.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved sheetpicking mechanism for such ma,- chines.

A further object is to provide such a picking mechanism which will operate with a, minimum of movement for, the work accomplished and which will simultaneously pick a sheet from one hopper while it deposits a sheet from another hopper upon the machine.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will be more clearly, understood from the i whicharesuitablymounted a. series of vertical supporting members 6: A series of hoppers are mounted on. said vertical membersas illustrated insFigs. 2;.to:4, andsecured thereto by means of bars?! towhich are-attached the bottom platesB ofjthe hoppers. These hoppers are arranged'in pairs, each pair including one hopper at one. side ofthemachine and another hopper at .the.opposite; side, and are, inclined downwardly. towards the-center of the machine.

.Eachhopper has a. pair of side plates 9. which. may beadjustably positioned upon; the plate, 8 by suitable mechanism,- not shown, which is preferably located under said plate; the saidside plates! beingadjustable to accommodate sheets The fronts of. said; plates have suitable stops, not shown, toengage the marginalfside portions of the sheets and retain a stack of sheets in the hoppers whilepermitting. the front sheets to be withdraWn-fromthe stacks by, the picking mechanism.

The Q said. picking mechanism is preferably mounted atthe-top; of the machine andsupport: 1 edl centrallythereon"by brackets It. Upon the said brackets there are mounted supports; l3,- upon which are; hung, at opposite sides; of the as shown, and includes two sets brackets, suction pipes it that are connected,

through a flexible hose It, with each of a set of picker fingers I6-l6' that are secured to an oscillating shaft I! which is swivelly mounted in thebrackets I2;

A driving shaft I8 is rotatably mounted in said brackets and carries therewith a cam i9 which.

operates. a supporting frame 26 that is hung for vertical sliding movement upon the shafts l'il 8, as; clearly shown. in Fig. 1. This frame consists of-side bars 2| secured together at the top by an adjustable. plate 22 that carries a' roller 23 which engages the cam It; the said bars beingysecured together at the bottom by a bracket 24 upon which is hung a stripper and pusher plate 25. having downwardly turned ears 2626.

Each feeding mechanism is located between the two opposed hoppers in its respective pair, of spaced picker fingers l6l5, for each hopper at each side of the machine, and a stripper and pusher plate 25 which is disposed between said fingers. The

said fingers preferably consist of a tube 27 which is clamped to a bracket 28 that is secured to therocker shaft "and the picking portion of saidfingers is preferably. provided with a tubular sleeve'29 of resilient material, such as rubber or the like, and a row of perforations 36 extends through said tube and sleeve. At the upper end of each of said fingers there is attached a. flexible hose l5 which connects the finger.

with one of the pipes I 4. A spring 3! may; be anchored in a suitable manner, preferably to the rocker shaft 17, and connected to the frame 20 foriurging said frame in a downward direction to retain the roller 23 in engagement with the cam l9.

Belowthe picker fingers, there are provided a pairof feed shafts 32 that are rotatably mounted 1 insuitable bearings, not shown. The said shafts arerotated in opposite directions and carry thereon, for each picker mechanism, a pair of rollers 32 which are preferably resilient and rotated in a downwardly direction relatively to a vertical axis extending through the pusher plate 25.

Below said rollers, there is provided a conveyor, preferably in the form of a link chain .33, which extendsaround sprockets 34 on shafts 35, only one of said. sprockets and shafts being shownin 'the;,drawings.

the direction of the arrow 36 and has, at spaced The said linkchain is driven in intervals thereona series of pushers 37.

The shaft I1 is rocked by a lever 33. WhiChiS: is drivenby operated vby a. connector. bar. 39 that.

-66 ,a suitable. mechanism; notishown.

The operation of my above described sheet picking mechanism is as follows:

The sheets which are to be deposited upon the conveyor are first loaded into the pair of oppositely disposed hoppers and the machine is set in motion. The bar 39 will then oscillate the rocker shaft I! and therewith the picker fingers 16 so that one set of fingers will engage the sheets in the hopper at one side of the machine and the other set of fingers will engage the sheets in the hopper at the other side of the machine.

As a set of said picker fingers l6 moves into contact with the sheets in the lower ends of the hoppers, a valve mechanism, not shown, which connects the suction pipes [4 with an air suction system, is operated to cause a suction through that set of picker fingers so that it will draw the first sheet in the respective hopper against the fingers. The fingers are then swung away from the hopper by the shaft l1, while the opposite set of fingers is swung towards its respective hopper, and, as the said fingers move past the stripper plate 25, the sheet of material which was adhered to the said picker fingers is stripped therefrom and left upon the respective face of the stripper plate. The cam I9 will then cause movement of the frame 20 to lower said stripper plate downwardly and the pusher fingers 26-26 will push the sheet thereon between the spaced pair of rollers 32. These rollers will then engage the said sheet and feed it downwardly onto the conveyor whereby it is carried to another part of the machine.

It will be understood from the above description that by my invention I have provided a highly efiicient sheet picking mechanism which may be used on many different kinds of machines such as automatic envelope machines, collating machines, stuffing machines and the like. The said mechanism operating to simultaneously deliver a sheet from one hopper upon a desired portion of the machine while it is picking a sheet from another hopper. This eliminates the necessity of stopping the picker fingers in the delivery position while traveling from one hopper to the other, as in the case where a single picker finger is used, and thereby greatly increases the efliciency of the machine and eliminates highly objectionable vibration and Wear commonly caused by interruption of movement in mechanisms operating at high speeds.

Iclaim:

1. A stufiing machine which comprises a conveyor, a pair of hoppers, the said hoppers being located at opposite sides of the conveyor and each having a discharge end spaced from the con- Veyor and from the discharge end of the opposite hopper, picker fingers between said discharge ends and spaced from each other, each of said fingers being associated with one of said discharge ends for picking material therefrom; the said fingers being relatively spaced so that one finger is in position to receive material from its respective hopper while the other finger is in position todeliver material upon the conveyor, and mechanism for moving said fingers into material receiving and delivering positions.

2. In a stufiing machine, a conveyor, a pair'of hoppers having discharge ends at an angle to each other and the plane of said ends intersecting at an apex above the conveyor, picker meansincluding angularly spaced fingers for alternately picking material from said discharge ends, the plane of'said fingers intersecting at an apex substantially adjacent to the apex'of the first mentioned apex and the angle between the fingers being substantially one-half the angle between the said discharge ends so that one finger is in position to receive said material from its respective hopper while the other finger is in position to deliver the material upon the conveyor, and mechanism for moving said fingers relatively to said hoppers.

3. A machine for stufiing envelopes which comprises a conveyor, a plurality of hoppers located in pairs each including a hopper at opposite sides of the conveyor, a picker finger for each of said hoppers for picking material therefrom and delivering it to a position over said conveyor, mechanism located between each pair of hoppers for moving said fingers to alternately draw the material from the hoppers, and stripping means in the path of movement of said fingers for stripping the material from the fingers as they move past said stripping means.

4. In an envelope stuffing machine, a conveyor, a plurality of hoppers located above said conveyor and disposed at each side thereof, said hoppers being grouped in pairs each progressively stationed along the conveyor and including a hopper located at opposite sides of the conveyor, means between said hoppers including a pair of spaced fingers operating to pick material therefrom, stripping means positioned between said fingers for removing said material therefrom, and means for transferring said material from said stripping means to said conveyor.

5. An envelope stufiing machine comprising a conveyor, a plurality of hoppers disposed above and along the conveyor at opposite sides thereof, picker means between said hoppers comprising a pair of spaced suction members for each of said hoppers, mechanism for operating said suction members to pick the material from their respective hoppers, a stripper plate positioned between said hoppers and said spaced suction members for stripping material from said members, mechanism for moving said stripper plate to carry said material towards the conveyor, and transfer means for transferring the material from the stripper to the conveyor.

6. An envelope stuffing machine comprising a conveyor, a plurality of hoppers positioned above and along said conveyor at opposite sides thereof, mechanism for picking material from said hoppers including a rocker shaft, a pair of spaced pickers for each of said hoppers carried on said shaft, means for moving said pickers into contact with the material in their respective hoppers, a stripper plate positioned between said pickers for stripping material therefrom during the movement of the pickers past said stripper plate, transfer means for transferring material from the stripper plate to said" conveyor, and mechanism for moving the stripper plate towards said transfer means to carry the material thereon to the transfer means.

'7. A machine for stuffing envelopes which comprises a conveyor, a pair of hoppers located above said conveyor one at each side thereof, a rocker bar positioned intermediate the ends of said hoppers, and picker means carried by said rocker bar between said hoppers and movable to alternately pick material therefrom; said picker means comprising a separate pair of spaced suction fingers for one of said hoppers jointly carried on said rocker bar with the pair of fingers for the other hopper, a common stripper located between the said suction fingers of each pair andwithin their path of movement to receive material therefrom as the said fingers move past the opposite sides of the stripper, whereby the material picked from said hoppers is deposited upon opposite sides of the stripper, transfer means for transferring the material from the stripper to the conveyor, and means carried on said rocker bar for movin said stripper to carry the material deposited thereon onto the transfer means.

8. A machine for stufling envelopes comprising a conveyor, a plurality of hoppers located along said conveyor at opposite sides thereof, picker means movable between said hoppers and including a pair of spaced picker fingers for each of the hoppers, a stripper located between said fingers and within their path of movement to receive material therefrom as the said fingers move past the opposite sides of the stripper whereby the material picked from said hoppers is deposited upon opposite sides of the stripper, transfer means for transferring the material from the said stripper to the conveyor, and cam means for moving said stripper to carry the material from the picker finger to the transfer means.

9. A machine for stuffing envelopes comprising a conveyor, a plurality of hoppers disposed above said conveyor at opposite sides thereof, a stripper plate vertically movable between said hoppers, picker means including spaced fingers for drawing material from said hoppers, the said fingers being movable past said stripper plate in opposite directions whereby the material carried by said fingers is deposited upon opposite sides of the stripper plate, and transfer means for delivering the material from the stripper plate to the conveyor.

10. A machine for stuifing envelopes comprising a conveyor, a plurality of hoppers disposed in pairs above the conveyor with the hoppers of each pair at opposite sides thereof, picker means including a separate pair of spaced fingers for each of said hoppers and jointly movable between the ends of the said hoppers in each pair to alternately draw material therefrom, a strip comprising a vertically movable stripper plate located between each pair of said hoppers and between the picker fingers thereof to remove material from said fingers and receive it upon the opposite sides of said plate as the fingers pass by the stripper plate, transfer rolls for transferring the material from the stripper plate to the conveyor, and pusher fingers on opposite sides of the stripper plate for pushing the material thereon between said rolls.

11. A machine for stufiing envelopes which comprises a conveyor, a pair of hoppers each located at opposite sides of the conveyor, a separate pair of spaced fingers associated with each of said hoppers for picking material therefrom and delivering it to a position over said conveyor, mechanism for jointly moving said pairs of fingers relatively to their respective hoppers to alternately draw material therefrom, and common stripping means located above the conveyor and between the fingers of each pair for stripping the material therefrom as the said fingers move past the stripping means.

12. In a stufiing machine, a pair of hoppers having discharge ends spaced from each other, a conveyor located centrally between said discharge ends, two picker fingers between said hoppers each associated with one of said ends, the said picker fingers being spaced from each other substantially one-half the distance between the discharge ends of the hoppers so that one finger is in position to receive said material from its respective hopper while the other finger is in position to deliver the material upon the conveyor, and mechanism for moving said fingers relatively to said hoppers.

ANTON VAN VEEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,170,091 Molyneux Feb. 1, 1916 1,373,187 Freeman Mar. 29, 1921 1,441,278 Halvorsen Jan. 9, 1923 1,454,008 Wooldridge May 1, 1923 1,496,726 Myhrum June 3, 1924 1,547,948 Nevins July 28, 1925 1,659,099 Halvorsen Feb. 14, 1928 2,058,005 Donnellan Oct. 20, 1936 2,352,088 Evans June 20, 1944 

